Candidate screenings in two wards produced no endorsements, given a legitimate split amongst members between incumbent Melvin Carter III and Johnny Howard in Ward One, and between Chris Tolbert and John Mannillo in Ward Three, the city’s only open seat this year.

Dan McGrath, TakeAction Minnesota’s Executive Director, said this year’s member endorsement decisions largely boiled down to City Council votes this spring which provided a living-wage waiver to Cossetta’s Italian Market for their expansion. The waiver exempts the business from having to pay some of its workers a $10.16 per hour living wage in exchange for nearly two-million in city loans.

TakeAction Minnesota’s predecessor organization, Progressive Minnesota, fought hard to pass the ordinance in 2005 and McGrath said its members intend to see it upheld. Russ Stark was the only council member to vote against the waiver while TakeAction Minnesota past-endorsees Carter, Thune and Helgen voted for the exemption.

The living-wage ordinance, as well as the candidates’ positions on ranked-choice voting which will be featured for the first time on November’s ballot, were both cited by members as the two top factors in driving candidate preference in this year’s screenings.

“Our members are serious about holding our endorsed leaders accountable and the Cossetta’s vote angered a lot of our members — especially those motivated to turn out to our candidate screenings this year,” McGrath said. “Opposition to Instant Runoff Voting, which TakeAction Minnesota has supported at the local level, also was persuasive.”

TakeAction Minnesota’s Board Chair, Mark Schultz, said the screening process included broad turnout from across the organization’s membership. Schultz remarked that this fall’s council screenings represented “some of the largest and most diverse screenings ever.” Nearly two-hundred members, more than a quarter of whom were persons of color, attended.

McGrath said this year’s city endorsements represent a shifting political landscape from city endorsements of past years where the organization had to combat a slew of conservative candidates supported by former St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelley. “What we’re seeing now is incumbents like Helgen and Thune being challenged from the left rather than the right.

Were they to face conservative opponents in screenings this year rather than progressive opponents, our members may have chosen to endorse them again. But that wasn’t the case and our members had strong progressive challengers to support. The political landscape in St. Paul is trending leftward.”

TakeAction Minnesota’s PAC Board plans to screen City Council President Kathy Lantry in the coming weeks. Lantry remains unopposed in Ward Seven.

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2 Comments

Trixie, you’re wrong about the fact that “No non-police/fire union backs her.” Brendmoen’s endorsed by the locals of both the Steelworkers and the IUOE, as well as the UFCW. She is also endorsed by Takeaction, the Stonewall (LGBT) caucus of the DFL (which is one more DFL endorsement than the incumbent’s zero), and womenwinning, which endorses women with progressive credentials.

But don’t just take the word of these organizations, take it from her friends and neighbors– many, like me, who are lifelong progressives. I first met her at the DFL state Convention, and today I am happy to support and vote for a democrat who can be a democrat but still bring people from all sides to the table.

What TAM’s Schultz doesn’t mention is that the TAM meeting was held on a date/time that made it hard for St. Paul residents to attend, and also that “progressive” Amy Brendmoen has a very slick expensive campaign backed by the local Chamber of Commerce and the very conservative/Republican police and fire unions. No non-police/fire union backs her, nor does any progressive group besides TAM, which was either hosed or was trying to rig the endorsement to punish Thune and wound up endorsing a Republican stalking horse, Brendmoen, as well as their own greenie candidates.